Goodwill receives grant
for career exploration

PORTLAND — Goodwill Industries of Northern New England has received a grant to promote virtual career exploration and opportunities in the health care field.

With funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, The U.S. Department of Labor awarded Goodwill of NNE’s Good Prospects Program $267,932 to use over the next two years.

Good Prospects programming includes outreach and recruitment through workforce development programs and partnerships, job resource options through technology and the Internet, and virtual career assessment tools to help in the career decision-making process.

The grant will be used to purchase computer equipment for career exploration and development, and software tools for pre-training and training activities, as well as provide computer literacy and training for career development instructors.

With the help of the grant, Goodwill of NNE will now be able to expand services at its Workforce Solutions sites in York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, and Kennebec counties.

Young professionals group
presents annual awards

PORTLAND — PROPEL, Portland region’s young professionals networking and business organizational group, recently held its second annual entreverge awards celebration at the Port City Music Hall.  

The entreverge awards are presented to local businesses that exhibit a vision for the future and a long-term commitment to the people, place, and prosperity of Maine.

PROPEL received over 40 nominations, and presented the awards to the following five local businesses: Chart Metal Works, DSO Creative Fabrications, Flyte New Media, Maples Organics and the North Star Music Cafe.  

Each winner received a complimentary membership to the Portland Regional Chamber, a portable sign courtesy of Nimlok and a package of pro bono consulting services, and meeting opportunities with members from PROPEL’s Advisory Network. Also, the winners were given an electric guitar and a floral lei.

PROPEL was formed in 2006 in association with the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce to build relationships between the future business and community leaders of Greater Portland through networking events and educational seminars. For more information, please visit propelportland.org.

Brunswick art center, farm
form new partnership
  
BRUNSWICK — Spindleworks Art Center, a  non-profit art center for artists with disabilities, has formed a unique partnership with Crystal Springs Farm, Community Supported Agriculture, for the 2010 growing season.

Crystal Springs Farm CSA members will now be taking home not only vegetables, but a piece of artwork donated by Spindleworks artists, including Diane Black, Emma Becker, Caroline Boylston, Terri Snape and Sam Eberhart.

Currently there are more than 240 Crystal Springs CSA members. Spindleworks hopes to donate possibly twice that many pieces of artwork over the course of the 2010 growing season as a way of spreading the word about the art center and publicizing the work of several artists in the program.  

The collaboration was inspired by a similar program happening in Portland, Ore., called Project Grow.

For more information on how to join the Crystal Springs Farm CSA, please visit crystalspringcsa.com.

McEwen, Carroll earn
service-learning awards

AUGUSTA — At a recent ceremony at the Maine State Museum in Augusta, Lorrayne Carroll and Craig McEwen were presented with The Maine Campus Compact’s Donald Harward Award for Faculty Service-Learning Excellence.

Lorrayne Carroll of Portland, a University of Southern Maine professor, was recognized for her commitment to service learning at USM as an associate professor of English and women and gender studies for over 10 years.

Craig McEwen, the Bowdoin College Daniel B. Fayerweather Professor of Political Economy and Sociology, and Senior Faculty Fellow in the McKeen Center for the Common Good, was recognized for his support of service-learning by helping to create the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good, which opened in 2008.

Awards

The American Heart Association has recognized local Maine companies for having exemplary Worksite Wellness Programs and for promoting physical activity and health in the workplace. The “Start! Fit Friendly” Gold-level awardees include Barber Foods, Hannaford Brothers Company, Holden Agency Insurance/ Employee Benefits Solutions, McCain Foods, MEMIC, and Mercy Hospital. Local companies earning the highest recognition of Platinum-level are Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Cardiovascular Consultants of Maine, and L.L. Bean.

At the 30th Maine International Trade Day held in Rockport, the Maine International Trade Center announced the winners of the 2010 Maine International Trade and Investment Awards.  The 2010 Exporter of the Year was presented to Fluid Imaging Technologies of Yarmouth. Sprague Energy Corporation, with facilities in South Portland and Searsport, is the 2010 Service Provider of the Year.  Lighthouse Imaging Corporation of Portland is the 2010 International Innovator of the Year. Ruth Greene, vice president of planning and forecasting at UNUM, is the recipient of the 2010 President’s Award for her service as MITC’s board chair and for her vision of an internationally-engaged economy in Maine.

Yarmouth Community Services presented Keith Gray of Yarmouth with its 2010 Citizen Volunteer of the Year Award. Gray has been an active volunteer with Yarmouth Boy Scouts and Yarmouth Girl Scouts since 1997; a longtime member of Yarmouth booster groups for softball, basketball and hockey; a volunteer coach for many YCS youth programs; and a member of the Yarmouth Sports and Recreation Committee.

University of Southern Maine Distinguished Professor Joseph A. Conforti of Portland was presented with the Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Award from The Maine Humanities Council. Conforti was the founding director of USM’s American and New England Studies program in 1987 and served as professor and program director for 10 years.

The Greater Portland Convention & Visitors Bureau has awarded Angie Helton, president of Northeast Media Associates in South Portland, the Member Volunteer of the Year award.

Sidebar Elements

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American Legion Department of Maine honored its most prolific recruiter and mentor, Legionnaire Bob Morrill of Freeport, at a recent banquet for past County and District Commanders and past District Presidents. Pictured here at the award presentation are, from left, Bill Audet, Andy Olson, Bob Morrill, Tony Marston, Robert “Ki” Owen. Not pictured are Gene Bickford, William “Chick” Ciciotte, Lloyd Woods, and Don Simoneau.